Say Goodbye to the World You Thought You Lived In
by Stitch54
Summary: My tribute to Lis Sladen. Sarah Jane Smith's last grand adventure, but as with everything with the Doctor, things don't always go quite as to plan.


**If I owned Doctor Who and its spinoffs, I think the BBC, Steven Moffet and RT Davies would have something to say about it. Therefore, I do not own Doctor Who or its spinoffs (Except on DVD).**

**For my Nanna, and RIP Lis Sladen; you will both be missed.**

* * *

><p><strong>Say Goodbye to the World You Thought You Lived In<strong>

"Doctor?" Sarah Jane started once she knew the others were out of ear shot.

Jo had every right to be exploring this new TARDIS. She hadn't been on it in close to forty years, so it was understandable, and Santiago was just in awe of the whole room. They had some time before they had to be home the next morning, so the Doctor decided to park the ship in the vortex for a while, so they could all catch up. And explore. Rani and Clyde, even though they had hardly ever been in here before, were showing Santiago things, that they didn't even know what they did.

Thankfully, they all disappeared off into the inner depths of the ship, and Sarah Jane and the Doctor could have their chance to talk. The past few hours had been so busy and nonstop they didn't have a proper chance to talk. Jo needed her time, which she had now had, and gotten over, and now it was Sarah's turn. "Yes", he lifted his head up from the console.

"Was that Galifrey at Christmas?" she asked him as they stopped and sat down together on the Captain's chair.

"Uh, yes", the Doctor replied quietly, "It was. How did you guess?"

"Mr Smith picked up signals. Video feeds and the like being broadcast on the surface", she told him, "Not the way I wanted to be introduced to proper Time Lord culture".

"They weren't Time Lords", the Doctor sat back with his arms crossed, and with a frown on his face added; "They were echoes of what was once there. I would have loved you to have met them properly, before the war. And Jo, she would have loved it".

"I bet she would have", Sarah Jane laughed in agreement; "You should have seen her when she first met the Shansheeth".

"I can imagine", the Doctor smiled, "No offense to them, but can you make sure they aren't in charge of my funeral. Ever".

"That could be a problem", Sarah Jane went quiet and looked to her feet.

"Sarah", the Doctor sat straight up, "What's wrong".

He took his finger to her chin, and lifted up her face. There was a tear running down her cheek. "My Sarah Jane", he wiped the tear away, "A tear? May I ask why?"

She nodded and tucked a piece of hair away from her face. "I don't know how to tell you this", she tried to smile; "You are the first. I haven't even told Luke yet".

"Told Luke what?" the Doctor was very confused, and concerned by the way his companion was acting.

"Doctor, I, uh", she rubbed the back of her neck then looked up to him, laughing at how silly she was being, "I have cancer".

The Doctor was silent. His eyes did not leave her face. This could not be true. Of all the people on Earth, why her? "Doctor, please say something", she was about to cry.

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor took her by her shoulders, and pulled her in for the hug of a lifetime. He felt her tears coming through the fabric of his jacket, and too felt tears running down his cheeks. "My Sarah Jane", he sighed, before a thought clicked in his head, and he stood immediately upward, "Right, to the year 4000. They have a cure for every cancer on Earth. Hold on".

"NO!" she screamed at him and grabbed his arm, "No, I don't want you to".

"Why ever not?" he was shocked at her outburst.

"It's terminal Doctor. I have maximum of a year to live", she was crying again.

"They can fix that", he said taking a step towards her, and bringing her in for a hug.

"No, this is my time", she cried into his chest, "I know it".

"Don't say that", he hugged her tighter and rested his head on top of hers, "You have so much more to do".

"Then help me to do it in the time I have left", she sobbed.

He sighed, and they just stood there. There was no changing Sarah's mind once it was made. He knew that all too well from past experience. If this is what she wanted, then who was he to deny her wishes. He rubbed his hand up and down her back, and then stopped to twiddle her hair around his fingers. "What would you like me to do", he said softly to her.

* * *

><p>Twelve months later...<p>

The attic was the place it was to happen. That is where she wanted it to be done. That is where she told the Doctor to take everyone all those months ago. She wanted everyone; the Bannerman Road gang, Torchwood, Maria, her dad and her mum, Jo and Santiago, Mike Yates and John Benton, Martha and Mickey, Amy and Rory, and especially the Doctor. They all had to be there. It was her wish.

UNIT had taken care of the public funeral; the funeral where friends from her normal life could come and mourn. It wasn't even a funeral. It was just a gathering of friends, to remember the wonderful woman that was Sarah Jane Smith. Old soldiers talked about how when they saw her walk into the room, they knew trouble was about to go down, and her various editors recalled her enthusiasm in every story she took. Some big man at UNIT read out her official will, stating Luke had the rights to the house, and Mr. Jackson had permission to access her computer files and give any remaining reports to her editors.

And then there was the proper funeral. Held deep within the old UNIT base, humans, aliens, and Time Lords alike could come and say one last goodbye. The teens and other humans associated with Sarah Jane who had been to the previous funeral attended, but their presence made this funeral more into a joyful remembrance session, rather than a funeral - just as Sarah Jane would have wanted. The Doctor (11) swore he saw some of his previous incarnations, hiding back in the shadows, laughing at the joyful times being remembered, and crying at the sad ones. If only Sarah Jane could see this, he thought to himself.

Back in the attic, everyone fell in, laughing about something the Doctor had said. They had been talking about all the weird and wonderful places Sarah Jane had ever ended up in. Jack had started it by mentioning a time she told him about being trans-matted to a landfill site back in the late eighties. The Doctor then finished it when they entered the attic, by recalling the position Sarah had ended up after transmat down from Nerva. "All you could see were these two bright orange wellingtons, waving back and forth in the bracken, attached to bright yellow legs", the Doctor laughed, "Oh, and the sounds she was making".

"Why does it seem that mum always gets the worst when she transmats?" Luke laughed, as he and the three other teens collapsed down onto her sofa laughing.

"Oh, remember Kudlak?" Maria turned to Luke and Clyde, "When we arrived on the ship, I believe she landed on her back, with her feet flipped right over her head".

"Well, hopefully that won't happen now", the Doctor mumbled as he walked down to stand in front of Mr Smith.

The whole event of Sarah Jane passing was just as confusing to K9 and Mr Smith as it was to the others. K9 couldn't really get his head around never seeing Sarah Jane again, and kept scanning for her, and Mr Smith was slightly disorientated as Sarah Jane was part of his purpose. And now, part of his purpose no longer existed; he was going through some funny spells. Luke was trying to give him another purpose, but nothing really seemed to be working.

The Doctor stopped in front of the computer, and turned around to face the collection of people in the room. Amy and Rory felt slightly out of place, as they had only really ever met Sarah Jane once, and it was a very brief once if that. Benton and Yates, who had both consumed a good amount of alcohol in the past few hours, were merry, but still felt awkward around Sarah Jane's new group of friends. At least they had Jo, who the Doctor had to pick up for the event as she was in Guam of all places, and Santiago was with his parents in Norway or somewhere up that way anyway. Mickey and Martha, who had come to know Sarah rather well in the past few years, were shocked to say the least of her passing, and helped out on the official front. On the unofficial front though, was Jack and Torchwood, or rather what was left of it. The Doctor had picked Jack up from some intergalactic bar run by the Shadow Proclamation, and Gwen and Rhys were enjoying some alone time from their baby.

He smiled as he watched all the people both he and Sarah Jane loved, all together. But, then he was saddened by the fact that it took her death to eventually bring them altogether in one place. Looking to the floor, the Doctor thrust his hands into his pockets, and felt around for the spherical device that he so hoped would clear things up. Although, he would understand if they all hated him for the rest of his life, as what he was about to do, could be seen as very cruel given the current circumstances.

The Doctor gulped as he twiddled the device in his pocket, and looked up at his friends. They were all laughing. The tears had long been gone now, and everyone was at least starting to recover. But that could all go topsy-turvery in the next few moments. There was one last thing to be addressed. The proper will. Sarah Jane had left a proper will with the Doctor, which she wanted him to read, but for the sake of laws and such that were on the Earth, she did have to make the official one. Although, thankfully, UNIT was aware of her having another one with which she entrusted the Doctor with, and so there would, or rather should, be no trouble with them after today.

"Um", the Doctor cleared his throat as he took a cautious step forward, "Can I have all of your attentions now, please?"

"What's up Doc?" Jack smiled, causing all the teens to let out a little giggle.

"Thanks Jack", the Doctor sarcastically smiled back at the immortal, whom then gave a wink at the Time Lord.

"But, really, what's up?" Jo asked as she sat forward, "You're not going to tell us Sarah Jane left a fortune in some bank for Luke are you?"

"Not quite", the Doctor looked down at his feet as he slowly began to remove the pendant from his pocket.

"Although, that would be rather like mum", Luke smiled, "She would probably leave a sum of money for each of us".

"She always put others before herself that was for sure", Benton commented, to which Mike added a 'Here, here'.

Everyone else agreed with a nod, or some sort of sound that acknowledged their agreement in some way or another. "Doctor, you were saying?" Martha prompted.

"Yes, I, uh, well, you see this pendant?" he hung said item out in front of them. It was somewhere in-between the size of an apple, and a fifty pence piece, made from a rather tarnished silvery metal, with a glowing blue essence in the centre that pulsed slightly. Everyone leant forward to have a good look at it. "Well, this pendant is not just any pendant", the Doctor continued as he adjusted his fingers on the orb, "It is actually a receiver of a very advanced vortex manipulator, and works, something like this".

The Doctor pressed down onto the blue light. The pendant then let out a blast of light, blinding all of his friends in the process. After about five seconds and once everyone had regained their ability to see, they looked back down at the Doctor. He gulped as they all looked at him expectantly. "Well, was that it?" Mickey wondered, "A light show?"

"Well, it worked I can tell you that", the Doctor gazed down at his feet, before glancing slightly off to his right in the furthest corner of the attic by Luke's desk, and then looking back at his friends, "It was not my idea though".

"Doctor, you aren't making any sense", Amy pointed out to him, "Not for the first time might I add".

"And not for the last either", another voice popped in.

The group of friends in the upper half of the attic looked about each other momentarily, slightly confused. But then K9 broke the confusion in the only way he could. As someone in the general area the Doctor stepped out into view, he couldn't help but blast it out before anyone could think. "Mistress", he barked as he rolled forward.

Slowly walking into view, was Sarah Jane, in the flesh. It was no hoax, for if it was, it was a rather cruel one for the Doctor. No sound left the lips of anyone in the room as Sarah Jane came to stand next to the Doctor. Rani, Clyde, Santiago and Jo recognised what she was wearing, minus the bright blue glowing pendant around her neck. Sarah took the Doctor's hand in hers, and rubbed the back of it with her thumb reassuringly, and gave him an encouraging smile. He smiled back down at her as he gave her a quick hug, before they both looked back up at their company. "Hi guys", Sarah Jane said simply as if nothing had really happened.

"Doctor, this is a really sick joke", Alan said rather loudly at the Time Lord, "I know you work miracles on a daily basis, but bringing the dead back to life is just wrong".

"I'm not dead Alan", Sarah Jane calmly replied, "Not yet anyway".

"The Doctor said it was the receiver of a time vortex manipulator, obviously the necklace mum is wearing is the manipulator, meaning that this is really mum, and she has travelled in time to see us", Luke said, trying to use logic to block his emotions, but he was already breaking down, and as he stood, the tears began to fall, "Mum?"

"Oh Luke", Sarah Jane said as they both moved forward and met halfway in a hug to end all hugs.

Luke couldn't help but cry, and all Sarah could do was smooth her hand up and down his back. She was dead right here, right now, and all she was doing was bringing out all the emotions. But she had to be here. She didn't want the Doctor to do the next bit, she did. It was better to come from her lips, and not the Doctor reading off what she wanted to say. Luke pulled back to look his mum in the face. His eyes were red, and his cheeks wet from the tears, but he couldn't help but smile. Sarah Jane took a hand to his face and rubbed her thumb over his cheek. She was on the verge of crying too, but that would have to wait. "This can't be real", Clyde started, breaking the silence and causing mother and son to look his way, "It just can't be".

"Clyde Langer", Sarah Jane said with a slight laugh, "Haven't you learnt anything? Anything is possible if you can imagine it, and I bet you all imagined this happening in one way or another at some point in the past few days. Now all of you come here and give me a hug".

For the next few minutes, tears of sadness and happiness too, filled the attic. The Doctor thought the hugging would never end, and let a smile slip into the corner of his mouth as he gazed out at the sea of humans before him. It was so lovely to see what was going on before him, and yet so sad at the same time. Suddenly, he was aware of Sarah Jane approaching him and before he knew it, it was his turn to be having the hug. He bent down like before at Deffry Vale, smiling like an idiot, and picked his companion of the floor and twirled her around. "Oh, my Sarah Jane", he laughed in her ear.

"Thank you", she whispered back into his, before quickly adding, "Put me down you twit, I'm getting sick".

"Oh sorry", the Doctor smiled as he placed her down, and as he lifted up his head, he noticed that everyone was smiling at them both.

"So, where have you come from Sarah Jane?" Mike asked, "In your timeline I mean. We want to keep timelines in order you know".

"Well, I know one event which has happened, so I guess it won't matter if you let anything slip", she smiled with a hint of sadness, "But thank you anyway. Um, well, currently, the time I come from anyway at least, Jo, Santiago, Rani and Clyde have just disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS, and the Doctor and I are supposedly in the console room".

"Well, that explains the clothes", Rani commented.

"Well, if you were only 'supposedly in the console room', where are you really", Clyde asked, catching what Sarah Jane had said

"In the deep depths of the TARDIS, in a part of the ship that none of you have ever seen, and none of you will ever see except for Sarah Jane", the Doctor answered.

"Which would be where?" Jack wondered.

"My personal quarters", the Doctor replied quietly.

"Your bedroom", Jack raised his eyebrow, wondering whether it was justified that he had dirty thoughts, which he was not, "It isn't really a secret where it is Doctor".

"That isn't really my bedroom Jack. I have a whole part of the TARDIS sealed off from all of you", the Doctor informed them; "It is where I store all my memories. Good ones, bad ones, all sorts. It is where I go when I need reminding of my past. I spent a great deal amount of time in there after the Time War".

"It was only really the safest place to do this", Sarah Jane informed them all, "It would have been hard to explain my disappearance and then sudden reappearance in the TARDIS when you lot came back, so we both wandered off so you thought we went to spend some time together".

"So, whilst Gran and I were being shown around the new TARDIS by the Earth's two worst tour guides", Santiago smiled at Rani and Clyde, "You were travelling forward in time?"

"Yes", Sarah Jane and the Doctor replied at the same time, and the Doctor then added, "Well, Sarah Jane anyway, I was just on the controlling end, and now the receiving".

"Brilliant", Jack beamed as he nudged Gwen with a smile.

"Now then", Sarah Jane clapped her hands together causing everyone to jump, "Doctor, would you be so kind as to bring that bag out from your pockets so we can get this thing over and done with?"

"Oh yes, sorry", the Doctor smiled as he began to rummage around the inside pocket of his tweed jacket.

Suddenly, to everyone's absolute amazement, and as if the events of today hadn't been enough, the Doctor pulled a giant red velvet sack out from a pocket that was way too small. Sarah Jane laughed as she watched everyone's jaws hit the floor. "Bigger on the inside", the Doctor explained quickly before any of them could ask, and went into the pocket on the other side of his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper, "I believe Miss Smith, this is what you requested?"

"It's perfect, thank you Doctor", Sarah smiled at him as she took the crumpled piece of paper from the Doctor's hands and checked that everything on the list was ticked, "Although, it would have been nicer if you had kept this somewhere tidier".

"Ah, but there is nowhere safer than the inside pocket of my jacket", he replied as he tapped the end of her nose, "Would you like me to explain, or would you like the honours?"

"Explain what?" Gwen asked from the back.

"The reason that I am here, is that I wanted to read you all my will", Sarah Jane smiled at them all; "Hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak. It is much better than you lot listening to him read it out", she dug the Doctor in the ribs, "And this way, I will know you will all get what you are supposed to get".

"I thought you had already left a will", Rani frowned in confusion; "You left Luke everything".

"Yes, that was for legal purposes. UNIT are aware of what is really going to happen, and that will is a cover up, just in case anyone becomes suspicious", Sarah Jane smiled.

"So, basically, you are saying that there is another will, and we are all in it?" Maria cleared things up.

"Yup", Sarah Jane smiled, "And for today, and today only, the Doctor is my assistant in this".

"Ha", Jo laughed, "So do we all have a day of you being our slave in part of a contract or something Doctor for travelling in the TARDIS with you?"

"I know what I would do with it", Jack added quickly before the Doctor could say anything.

"Ah, can we address this issue at another date", the Doctor half laughed, "Sarah Jane has a bag of goodies she wishes to dish out here".

"Yes, I do", Sarah smiled, "And we begin with Luke, Maria, Rani and Clyde".

The four teens all stepped forward, looking between each other nervously as they stepped down to where the Doctor and Sarah Jane were standing in front of Mr. Smith. The Doctor began to rummage around in the bag for the first box of items that Sarah Jane had set aside. It was like an Easter egg hunt after she died to collect all the boxes she had set aside for all the recipients in her will. She had given him one rule back in the TARDIS, he was not to open them, nor was he to argue with her. The first box wasn't particularly large; red reflective paper covered it with the teens' names written on a post-it note in Sarah Jane's hand writing. She took it from his hands and removed the lid, setting it down on the work surface next to her. "Right, first to Maria and Rani", Sarah Jane smiled, and the boys stood back to give the girls their space.

"I'm so glad to see you two are getting on so well", she started off by saying.

"We have met before this", Maria smiled at Sarah Jane.

"Um, not yet though, remember", Rani pointed out, "And it wasn't under the best circumstances".

"Oh yes, sorry Sarah Jane", Maria looked down to the floor, remembering that the day that she and Rani finally met in person hadn't happened for Sarah Jane yet.

"That's fine Maria", Sarah Jane laughed, before nodding her head in the direction of the Doctor, "You are doing a better job at keeping time lines on the right track than he has in the past".

They looked over to the Doctor smiling. "Oy, miss, just because you are getting me to help out here, does not mean you can abuse me too", the Doctor wagged his finger at her.

"I would never abuse you Doctor", Sarah Jane smiled at him mischievously; "I was only pointing out a fact".

"Hmm", the Doctor pursed his lips before going back to sort the boxes in his bag out into a nice neat order.

"Right, back to business", Sarah Jane smiled before pulling out two items wrapped up in coloured tissue paper, "I hope you can make good use of these".

Rani and Maria opened up their gifts carefully, and smiles crossed their faces as the gifts were revealed to them. Maria pulled out of the paper, Sarah Jane's scanner watch, whilst Rani pulled out the sonic lipstick. "Oh wow, thank you so much Sarah Jane", Rani said.

"Yes, thank you", Maria added.

"I thought it was best that you two had these", Sarah Jane told them, "They are way to girly for Clyde and Luke to have, and I thought that they would suit you two".

"I wondered why I couldn't find them", Luke added, "Turns out you had plans for them all along".

"Yes, now then you two devilishly handsome men", Sarah Jane told the boys as she took out their presents from the box, "Here are your gifts".

Clyde opened his to find a black fountain pen, or what looked like a black fountain pen. Whilst Luke discovered his gift was a bag of gears and other mechanical parts and an instruction booklet. "Luke, I asked the Doctor to put together a sonic device making kit for you. I thought it would be wrong for you not to have one, and now you can have anything you want; screwdriver, lipstick, anything", Sarah Jane explained.

"Oh thanks mum and thank you Doctor", Luke smiled.

"Now then Clyde", Sarah Jane turned to face the young lad she had watched mature from a trouble maker, into a trouble fighter.

"Is this some super cool alien pen that will make my art epic?" Clyde smiled as he looked over it.

"No, it isn't very good for art at all", Sarah Jane informed him, "I was sent this a couple of years ago by a member of Chiswick council I know. Apparently, it was in a bin outside the Adipose headquarters".

At the mention of the words, the Doctor sprang his head up, and looked straight over at the two. "What?" he asked quickly.

"Thought you would be interested", Sarah Jane laughed, "I believe it is a sonic pen, and I now give it to you Clyde Langer, as long as the Doctor is okay with it".

"Oh, I'm fine with it", the Doctor nodded, "Just surprised that it still existed".

"Right then, Torchwood next", Sarah Jane said as she hurried the kids along, and Jack leapt up from his seat whilst Gwen and Rhys stepped down slowly.

Jack stood before Sarah Jane like a child about to receive a present from Father Christmas. Sarah Jane had never seen a smile so big on a fully grown man's face before. Well, human man. Well, mostly human. "I only have one gift to give to you, and may not look like much at the moment", Sarah Jane informed them as the Doctor handed her an envelope.

"It doesn't matter what you give us", Rhys told her; "The fact that you gave it to us is enough".

"Thank you", Sarah Jane smiled at him, and handed Jack the envelope, "In here is the combination to my safe. I wanted, since we made first contact and I decided you were decent people in that whole Dalek fiasco, to set up some sort of transmat device in there so I could send you all the dangerous alien artefacts I have acquired. I know, and now trust that you will be able to dispose of them correctly. There are about ten items in there, all of them yours".

"You can count on us Miss Smith", Jack saluted Sarah Jane, and Gwen and Rhys took the prompt and saluted her too.

"Mike, Benton", Sarah Jane called the two men down.

She watched as they fought to be down next to her first, and smiled. Oh, she was going to hate this next bit. The Doctor dug around in the bag until he pulled out two boxes, and passed them over to Sarah Jane. She handed both the old soldiers their gifts from her. "They aren't much, but I thought they could go to nobody else", she said as they opened out the boxes, "I inherited them from my aunt, although I have no idea where they come from".

Mike smiled as he pulled out a toy dinosaur and a rubber spider attached to a piece of string, whilst Benton ended up laughing a robot toy that beeped at him as he held it in his hands, and continued to laugh as he unwrapped a rolled up piece of paper; it was a poster about the Loch Ness monster. "You had to give us these didn't you?" Mike laughed.

"They remind me of you both so much", she shrugged; "I think only the Doctor other than you two would be able to appreciate them".

"Yeah", Benton continued to laugh.

"Now both of you close your eyes, and stand at the base of the steps", she instructed them.

The two ex army men shrugged and did as she wished. They closed their eyes and faced the back of the attic where the others were sitting in wait. Sarah Jane followed them over to the steps and stood on the next step up so now she could look them straight in the eye. If they had their eyes open that is. "Now, I know you are going to both deny it, but I know that you both fancy me", she told them straight.

"No I don't", and "Phish-posh", came from their mouths as soon as she said it, but their eyes remained closed.

The others laughed at their complete fail to hide their true feelings for Sarah Jane. She smiled, and winked at the Doctor who was standing over by Mr. Smith with his arms crossed with a cat like grin upon his young face. "Well, seeing as you both feel that way, I suppose you won't mind me doing this", she then grabbed Mike who was closest to her and pulled him in for a deep, passionate yet short kiss, before grabbing Benton, "and this", and then repeating the same.

The others whooped and laughed as the two soldiers stood back in shock and opened their eyes. The looks on their faces were priceless. They looked at each other and smiled, before looking back up at Sarah Jane, who stood at eye level with them and had her hands upon her hips. "Happy now?" she raised an eyebrow at them.

"Oh yes", the both said at the same time.

"I won't tell your wife, if you don't tell mine", Benton said to Mike.

"Deal", Mike replied, "But I think they have known for a while".

"More than a while", the Doctor said as he came up behind them and placed a hand on each of their backs, "I bet they knew from the start".

"Right next present", Sarah Jane said with a laugh as she pushed past the two soldiers and Time Lord, "Jo and Santiago".

"Oh lord, I hope you aren't going to kiss us too", Jo laughed as the Doctor left the two soldiers.

Jo and Santiago stood and walked down to stand in front of the Doctor and Sarah Jane. The Doctor pulled out an envelope and a rather heavy and large box wrapped up in a bright coloured piece of cloth. He handed them to Sarah Jane carefully, who then handed the box to Jo, and the envelope to Santiago. "It is strange to think that at the moment you are running around the TARDIS at the point in time I come from", Sarah told them as she handed the gifts over, "I was thinking when you were both talking to me, how much these would possibly mean to you".

"Well, let me just tell you this now Sweetie", Jo smiled as she placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder; "This won't be the last time you will see me, that is for sure".

"And this might not be the last time you'll see me either", Sarah Jane mumbled.

"What do you mean by that?" Santiago wondered.

"Not important right now, c'mon open your gifts", Sarah Jane waved him off.

Santiago shrugged and opened up the envelope, whilst Jo carefully un-wrapped the colourful material and inspected it. The boy's face lit up as he read what was on the piece of paper contained within, yet Jo's face was still puzzled as to what her gift was, and she still hadn't even got passed the cloth yet. "Are you sure about this?" Santiago asked Sarah Jane, "It is a lot of money".

"It's not really, I won it in a competition a while back", Sarah Jane smiled at him, "I thought you would enjoy the time with your parents".

"What did you get babe?" Jo asked as she gave up on the identification of her gifts, and Sarah Jane caught out of the corner of her eye, the Doctor getting very interested all of a sudden.

"Sarah Jane has given me booking details for a hotel in Scotland. Prepaid", he smiled at the last bit, "Thank you very much".

"No problem", Sarah Jane replied as Jo picked up her gifts.

"Sweetie, I'm stumped at this, perhaps you can explain", Jo asked as she stretched out the length of cloth.

Sarah Jane watched as the Doctor bent down to pick up the box Jo had completely forgotten about. She smiled as she recognised the face he was now wearing. "The memory is going a bit now Jo", the Doctor pointed out.

"What?" Jo looked to the Time Lord, "What on Earth do you mean?"

"I mean, how can you not recognise that cloth, and why haven't you even looked in the box?" he handed her the box.

"Should I recognise the cloth?" Jo looked to Sarah Jane for some help.

"It is from the court of Peladon", Sarah Jane smiled at her friend as she opened up the cardboard box, "And in the box are some scent sticks from the planet. I believe you said the smell of Lepatcho reminded you of the planet".

"Oh Sweetie", Jo smiled and hugged Sarah Jane, "Where did you ever get them from? Have you been travelling back and forth to planets under our noses?"

"No, but there have been many visitors to Earth under your noses", Sarah Jane laughed, "I helped out a merchant ship that crashed a while back, and he gave me the smellies, but the cloth comes from when I went to Peladon with the Doctor. I managed to sneak some into my pocket under their noses".

"Sarah Jane Smith", the Doctor laughed, "You don't set a very good example for your son now do you?"

"I'm a better influence on him than you are", she replied quickly, "Would you rather he learns his morals from you or from me?"

"Fair point", the Doctor shrugged as he dived back into his bag of goodies.

"Alan, Martha, Mickey, your next", Sarah Jane called up to the next three recipients, as Jo and Santiago went to sit back down, knowing that they were done.

"Maria, if she goes for me, close your eyes", Alan smirked as he stepped down.

"Oh the cheek", Sarah Jane laughed.

"Don't worry dad", Maria laughed also, "I think you receiving a clip around the ear is more likely".

Martha and Mickey walked hand in hand down to stand next to Alan Jackson. They had really come to know Sarah Jane quite well in the past few months. Coincidentally, or rather not as Martha now only very recently (let's say the last half an hour) came to believe, Sarah Jane had actually started to connect with not just them, but everyone else about a month after the Doctor's funeral fiasco. Martha sighed mentally for not realising something was up then when Sarah Jane had started to get them to take investigations for her. It was sad really; the woman had been so strong and stubborn right up until her death that it probably seemed a disappointment to this Sarah Jane, standing before her alive as the rest of them, that she was going to die from something like cancer. Martha recalled Sarah Jane talking to her just after she made it public to them that she was terminal, and saying how she had always imagined herself going out with a bang and not a whimper as cancer caused you to. Truth-be-told, Martha now saw herself dying at the hands of some green slime covered alien than old age.

The Doctor handed Sarah Jane, or rather pushed along in front of Sarah Jane, three boxes, which were obviously heavy. The Doctor stood back up from his bent down position, and the click in his back and the sigh he let out afterwards, reminded them all, that he wasn't as young as he looks. "You had to call the three with the heaviest gifts out at the same time, didn't you?" the Doctor complained as he massaged the lower half of his back.

"Feeling old, are we Doctor?" Martha grinned as Sarah Jane shook her head, "I do know quite a few homes that will put you up if you need it".

"No thank you Martha", the Doctor glared back at her, "I have a home thank you very much".

Sarah Jane shook her head with a smile and rolled her eyes at the Doctor behind his back. Martha agreed with a giggle, and the others sitting behind didn't miss the gesture either. The Doctor then turned back around and handed Sarah Jane yet another envelope. "Right then, I thought it would be best to have you three here in one go", Sarah Jane started to explain, "Mickey and Alan, in this envelope is the password to the secret files on my computer. I believe you two will find a good use for them".

"You can count on us", Alan nodded.

"Good", Sarah Jane smiled back at them, "Go on, and open up".

The three looked down to their presents. Mickey had ripped the sticky-tape off from around the cardboard seal of his box before even Alan or Martha could start. He quickly pulled out a sort of hat that once upon his head covered his eyes. It had no features to it, was plain white and looked like the top of an egg shell if anything. It was some sort of plastic, with some inner padding for Mickey's head. "Wha' tis it?" Mickey asked as he took it off from his head to have a good old look.

"It is a computer game from Brigmeup on the other side of the galaxy", the Doctor informed him before Sarah Jane could say anything; "I'll show you how to use it later. But the question on my lips at the moment is where the hell did you get this from Sarah?"

"We" Sarah Jane started then saw the confused looks upon the teenagers' faces, "Well actually, I, investigated into this new trading company in Reading a while back. Found it was actually a depot for alien goods to be despatched out into this corner of the galaxy. They left me a couple of presents as thanks for not reporting them to the Shadow Proclamation".

"Are our presents from the same incident?" Alan asked as he picked up his box, discovering that it wasn't as heavy as the Doctor had made out to be.

"Yours isn't Alan", Sarah Jane smiled back at him, to which he shrugged and gave his box a slight shake.

"You have been busy haven't you?" Jack commented from his perch back up by the others.

"Knowing mum, this isn't even the half of it", Luke added.

"My turn", Martha announced as she dived into her box and pulled out a large lump of plain boring old metal, "Oh wow, thank you Sarah Jane".

Martha did try to sound pleased, but her fail not only made Sarah Jane laugh, but the others too. She couldn't help it. The others had received such nice gifts, and now she got a lump of metal? Sarah Jane reached out to Martha. "May I?" she asked, gesturing to the lump of tarnished silver.

Martha handed the metal over to Sarah Jane, hoping that she could enlighten her further to what she was supposed to do with the cube. Sarah Jane stroked the sides of the box and gazed down at it deep in thought. Martha then watched to her amazement as the box changed from well, a box, into a beautiful necklace made of interlocking chains that looked so fragile, Martha thought if she were to touch it, it would fall apart in her hands. "Oh wow", Gwen commented from above, also voicing Martha's thoughts.

"Brigmeup metal has one of the most interesting properties", the Doctor smiled as he looked at the chain in Sarah's hands as she passed it back over to Martha, "It has the ability to change into whatever shape you want it to be, as long as there is enough of the metal to go around".

"It's beautiful", Martha beamed as Mickey did the chain up around the back of her neck.

"It will take some practice to get it to do what you want by the way", Sarah Jane informed them; "It took me two weeks to get it to change into the necklace the first time, but once it has been made into something it then remembers the shape".

"Oh, that's not fair", Alan complained from beside them, and all eyes darted to him, where he had now opened up his present.

He held them up for everyone to see; Delia Smith's newest recipe book, and a Jamie Oliver recipe book. Maria couldn't help herself and burst out laughing at her dad's face. It was really what he wanted. Not. A smile crept across Sarah Jane's face as she watched her ex neighbour exam the two books' covers. "I thought you would like it Alan", she said to him, "Seeing as you will be doing a lot more cooking now".

"What do you mean by that?" Alan looked up at her.

"Amy, Rory, you turn", Sarah Jane looked back up at her gaggle of friends, completely dismissing Alan.

"Oh, Sarah Jane", Rory started as they made their ways down, "We only met you the once, you don't have to".

"Actually, **you** haven't even met us yet", Amy pointed out.

"Nonetheless, I have a little something for you both", Sarah Jane waved off their concerns, "Doctor, can you hand me their gifts and can I have you here for approval?"

"Sure", the Doctor said from within the bag, so the reply was slightly muffled.

He popped out, his hair slightly dishevelled and in his hand he held two items wrapped up in TARDIS blue tissue paper. He passed them to Sarah Jane, and then remained at her side and watched curiously as she passed the over to his present travelling companions. "Now, I know what life can be like travelling with the Doctor, well actually most of us here do", Sarah Jane told them, "That is why I felt it was important that when these came into my possession that his present companions in time and space should have these".

The Doctor watched intently as his companions unravelled their gifts, only to gasp in shock as pendants similar to what had brought Sarah Jane here fell into his companions' hands. He first looked to Sarah Jane then back at Rory and Amy, and then back to Sarah Jane again. "Do you really trust me that much to screw things up with them too?" he looked hurt as he pointed at the objects.

"Yes", Sarah Jane replied straight, "There is never any knowing with you, remember".

"What is it?" Rani asked.

"A similar time vortex manipulator to the one Sarah Jane is wearing and their receivers", the Doctor replied, "But these looked as though they are limited to one trip".

"A quick getaway", Rory concluded as he looked over the two devices in his hands.

"I didn't want him to end up leaving you two on some distant planet with no way of getting home", Sarah Jane started to explain, "You just need to place the receivers somewhere you think is safe to go to, and press the centre of the necklace when you want to use it".

"Thank you", Amy hugged Sarah Jane, "This will stop me worrying at night, or well, reduce the worry".

"You worry at night?" the Doctor looked slightly surprised by the statement.

"Doctor, we don't all cope with fighting aliens and travelling to other planets as well as you do", Martha pointed out to him.

"I suppose you are right", the Doctor shrugged.

"Almost done", Sarah Jane clapped her hands together, making the Doctor jump, wanting to get to get to the eventual best bit, "K9 and Mr Smith".

"Mistress", K9 replied as he wheeled himself forward to be at her feet.

The Doctor produced a small box, with a small silver bow tied around the lid, and a small pouch made from red velvet. Sarah Jane bent down to K9, and opened the box up in front of him. Carefully, she shook out a chain which she then placed over K9's head. It had a small tag on the end and Sarah Jane picked it up from its equilibrium position at the base of the chain to read out the inscription. "K9, the one who is always there for me", Sarah Jane read out to him.

"Thank you Mistress", K9 replied as Sarah Jane stood up and patted him on the head.

Sarah Jane turned back to face Mr Smith and shook out again yet another chain. Sarah Jane pressed a button on Mr Smith's control panel, and out shot a small tray just below the screen. Before placing the device into the tray, Sarah decided it was best for her to read the inscription aloud. "Mr Smith, I will always need you", she said as she placed it into his tray, and watched as it disappeared into the computer.

"I will always be here for you", Mr Smith replied.

"Good, but I have one more gift for each of you", Sarah Jane said as K9 rolled up next to her and the others leant forward to watch she was about to do next, "Mr Smith, amend protocol one to fit my new instructions".

"Yes Sarah Jane, what amendments do you wish me to make to my purpose", the computer replied.

"You are to answer to everyone here present and all their descendants", Sarah Jane told him, "And I want you to start documenting TARDIS sightings from now on".

"Oh why?" the Doctor complained like a child.

"To keep an eye on you", Sarah Jane told him as she placed a hand upon his back before bending back down to K9 twiddling the red pouch in her fingers, "And this is for you K9".

Sarah Jane untied the bow of string at the neck of the bag and stuck two fingers in to retrieve the item for the dog. K9 rolled closer to her; as if he were trying to see what it was she had for him. Sarah Jane smiled as she pulled out her little present to the dog. She let K9 scan the small gift to him before opening up a small hidden draw in his chest and placing the item inside. "A lock of my hair. So I will always be with you".

"Thank you, again Mistress", K9 replied, and Sarah Jane looked up and over him at the rest of her friends; there were large smiles upon her face.

"Well, that's everyone bar the Doctor done", Jack announced, looking around making sure he had got his sums right.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten him", Sarah Jane laughed as she walked up to them and went to one of her draws on her computer desk.

She sighed as she looked down at the two envelopes waiting for her. She was dreading to write the letter she was about to give to the Doctor. And looking forward to everyone else's reaction at the other! The next few minutes were going to be very entertaining indeed. She reached in and took the two letters out. Walking with purpose, she silently passed the Doctor his letter. He gave her an approving nod, already guessing what was contained within. There are some things you can gather from being over nine-hundred years old; Sarah Jane's wishes being one of them. "Thank you" she replied, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"S'no problem", he smiled down at her, "I had always wondered".

"Aren't you going to open it Doc?" Jack called down, "I bet Sarah Jane's present to you has to be good seeing what she has given us".

"I will open it Jack, but not right now", the Doctor looked up to the Captain, before looking back down at Sarah, "But what I would like to know right now, is there someone here that I don't know about? Unless that final letter is for you, Sarah Jane".

"Um, no Doctor, I'm not as self obsessed as you are", Sarah Jane smiled at him, but before he had a chance to answer, she added; "It is my one before last present to all of you".

"All of us?" Mike conveyed the thoughts of everyone in the room, including the computer, the dog, and the Doctor.

"Yes", Sarah Jane nodded as she started to open the envelope, "All of you. It is really going to pee of UNIT that's for sure".

"Peeing off UNIT", Jack suddenly became very interested, "Please do continue. I'm all ears".

"Yes, do explain", the Doctor crossed his arms and went to sit on the wooden steps, and looked at his companion deep in thought.

"Well, a while back, I was reading in the Echo that someone had been told by the council that they couldn't sell their house until the army came and did a sweep of the home, and gave hardly a reason for it at all. I thought this was highly unusual and decided to look into it. I then after some traipsing on the internet, discovered it was not the first instance that Ealing council have stopped somebody from selling their house without a thorough sweep by the army", Sarah Jane paused momentarily just to make sure everyone was following so far, which thankfully it looked like they were, "So, seeing as Rani, Clyde and Luke were in the middle of their GCSE's and alien hunting had been put on hold for about a month, I decided to take my investigation further.

"Anyway, after about two weeks of pestering the council and using every contact I knew of, I finally gave in that I would have to go into the UNIT document archives to see if they had anything on it. Given that for ten years I was the head UNIT archivist, they let me in with some slight persuasion, and I went straight to the numerous operations files. There, I discovered something called Operation 13, set up in 1985, and it basically involved UNIT buying up a load of houses in Ealing, and then partly selling them off, not telling the new owners that UNIT did in fact still own their houses".

"The rotten bastards", Benton cursed, "Robbing people of their hard earned money".

"That's not the start of it", Sarah Jane replied, "After a little more digging I discovered they had bought up all houses in a one kilometre radius of you would never believe, Bannerman Road, this house to be exact".

"Operation 13, 13 Bannerman Road", Clyde realised, "Not very inventive is it?"

"Why would UNIT want to buy all houses around here?" Gwen wondered, "Unless there is something here we really don't know about".

"That is what I wanted to know, and why was it centred around my house", Sarah Jane continued, "I moved here, and left UNIT in 1983, so I knew nothing of it, and it also turns out that they didn't buy this house up, because I was already living here".

"Do you think they wanted to keep an eye on you? Just in case you let their secrets out or something?" Alan wondered.

"They seem like incredible lengths to go to keep their eyes on one person dad", Maria pointed out, "Sarah Jane does get up to a lot of things UNIT probably aren't all that happy about, but I don't think they would do that just in case she might let out a secret".

"Exactly Maria", Sarah Jane smiled at her, "Turns out they, or rather the Brig was ordered to do it".

"Did the Doctor give you some sort of disease the government wanted to keep an eye on or something?" Jo wondered, "We were always going to places and in the back of my mind I was always hoping that I didn't catch an outer space common cold that could kill me".

"I would have never let that happen", the Doctor argued.

"I know Doctor, but then after I dismissed the disease theory, I did start to wonder about the various forms of radiation I was exposed to", Sarah Jane told him, and continued; "I was worried that perhaps government scientists had been seeing if I would mutate or become radioactive".

"Wouldn't Mr Smith and K9 have picked up any harmful radiation", Luke pointed out.

"Yes, so that is what dismissed that theory", Sarah Jane shrugged, "But then I went a little bit deeper, deeper than I was allowed, and found that a certain **someone** had let slip that I was moving here".

Sarah Jane looked to the Doctor who was deep in thought. She had her hands upon her hips and was giving him a really disapproving look. The others followed her gaze, and Martha shook her head in disdain. What had he gotten himself into this time? The Doctor completely oblivious to the fact everyone was looking at him, kept staring out into space. He could not think up a reason whatsoever for UNIT wanting to keep an eye on Sarah Jane. "Doctor?" Sarah Jane raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, don't mind me Sarah", the Doctor continued to stare at the very interesting spot on the wooden floorboards, "I'm just thinking. You know me".

"Doctor", Amy groaned, "Why did you tell these UNIT people to buy up Ealing?"

"I did nothing of the sort", he argued back as he came out of his thinking.

"Not yet", Sarah Jane explained, "In your near future, you go back to the eighties, meet up with the Brig again, and apparently tell him that there is a possibility that the Daleks were going to try and capture me, take me down to some hidden lab somewhere under Ealing, and use my DNA to create a new generation of Daleks. All because I went to Skaro and met Davros".

"And he believed it?" the Doctor smiled like a child at Christmas.

"It seems so because UNIT did buy up all those houses", Sarah Jane pointed out to him.

"Oh, I'm looking forward to that", the Doctor clapped to himself, "Alistair, you are so gullible".

"And, what does this all have to do with the envelope in your hand?" Rani asked.

"I'm so glad you're awake, Rani Chandra", Sarah Jane smiled at the teen, "It then turned out that after twenty plus years keeping an eye on me, UNIT had given up, and were looking to sell the houses back to the rightful owners. But, if they did that, then there would be very unhappy homeowners in Ealing".

"Including my mum and dad", Rani laughed.

"And my mum", Clyde joined in.

"You said 'were looking to sell'. Why are they still not looking to sell?" Mickey jumped in.

"Because the area has been bought", Sarah Jane smiled at them all.

"By whom?" Jo wondered.

Sarah Jane's smile just got larger and larger as she wiggled the envelope in front of them. Then it caught on, as excited screams of joy and fits of laughter rocketed and bounced around the attic. The Doctor began to run around like a lunatic for a moment, did a full circle around Sarah Jane, before abruptly halting in front of her. He turned to face her, and raised a hand to silence everyone. "You own one kilometre radius of Ealing, and nobody knows it?" the Doctor looked over every inch of Sarah's face, "Absolutely brilliant, but how's it going to work?"

Sarah Jane smiled at him. "I don't own one kilometre radius of Ealing Doctor", she told him as she pulled out the deed and beckoned Luke down, "You all do. This is my gift to the future. Perhaps over time, the area will become a base of alien fighting and defending the Earth activity. Maybe it will become the centre of Earth-extraterrestrial relations. Who knows? The way things are going, it won't be long before human beings accept the reality that there is life other than on Earth".

"But all the people living in the houses, what will happen to them?" Luke asked his mother as she wrapped an arm around his waist, "We can't just throw them out onto the streets".

"Oh, I bet they will move out when things start to get hectic", Sarah Jane smiled at him, "I've driven off several neighbours in the past, I think you can cope with one square mile of Ealing".

"And then what?" Rory questioned, "We will have one kilometre radius of Ealing that is empty".

Sarah Jane looked to the Doctor. He had his thinking face on, and she knew that he was starting to grasp what was really happening, and what had happened. "The Doctor has touched so many lives, made so many friends", Sarah Jane told the nurse, "I'm sure they will accept this invitation".

"Hang on, you are talking as if this is really the plan and it is going to happen", Martha jumped in before anyone else spoke.

"Yes, you are Sarah Jane", the Doctor agreed with his former companion.

Sarah Jane was about to open her mouth to respond, but a beeping cut her off. She looked down to the pendant around her neck. The blue light was now pulsing, and Sarah Jane could already feel the tug of the vortex trying to pull her through. It was time to go. She looked back at everyone, and they already knew. Before she knew it, she was the centre of a mass hug, and the only sound in the attic was the whirring of Mr Smith's systems and the beeping of the vortex pendant. Sarah Jane broke free from all of them, with a large smile upon her face. "Time for me to go", she announced and she watched as a tear ran down the side of Luke's face.

"Do you have to?" Luke asked her.

"Yes", Sarah Jane wiped away his tears.

"But hey", Rhys jumped in, "Haven't you got one last gift to give?"

"I have yes", Sarah Jane replied as the frequency of the beeps increased, "But you'll have to wait ten years for it".

"What does that mean?" Clyde asked.

"Let's just say that things with the Doctor never go quite as to plan", Sarah Jane replied as she looked over at the Time Lord.

"Oh Lord", it then dawned on the Doctor, "You've been into the future?"

"2061 to be precise", Sarah Jane told him.

"That's fifty years, not ten", Maria pointed out.

"My maths isn't that bad Maria", Sarah Jane smiled at the girl, and then looked to the rest of them; "I will be seeing you in ten years, and then ten years after that, then ten years after that and so on".

"Did I tell you this?" the Doctor asked her, "In 2061 that is?"

"Sort of", Sarah Jane laughed back at him, as she pressed down on the pendant, "Be good whilst I'm gone".

"Wait mum", Luke reached out to her, but she was already fading into the vortex.

"I love you Luke, remember that", Sarah rubbed his cheek.

"I love you too", Luke replied, and then she was gone, "But what do we do with the car?"

Sadly, no response came, as his mother disappeared into a flash a golden light, onto the rest of her adventure. Those present looked about each other. There was confusion, sadness, happiness, and utter disbelief as to what had just happened. Luke picked up the deed his mother had left for them and clutched it to his chest and let out a long sigh. It had been a mad half an hour that was for sure. "What just happened?" Amy asked nobody in particular.

"I, uh, I really don't know", the Doctor answered.

"But that surely is not the last time we will be seeing Sarah Jane", Jack laughed.

* * *

><p>Back in the TARDIS, a few hours later...<p>

Amy and Rory slumped back down onto the Captains chair as they watched the Doctor man the TARDIS. He had been rather quiet since coming from Sarah Jane's. There had been an ecstatic ten minutes after she had left when everyone tried to pick out any spoilers from what she had said. Alas they had found none, but at least the idea of seeing his mum again gave Luke hope. Amy smiled as she remembered the glee on the boy's face as they left the house for the TARDIS just down the street.

Although, what did puzzle Amy was, why the Doctor had carried Sarah Jane's ashes back to the TARDIS. She thought that Sarah Jane would have wanted them to be scattered by her son on Earth. Not to be kept on the TARDIS by the Doctor. And now, they were in flight, headed for a destination that was yet unknown to her and her husband, with Sarah Jane's ashes placed securely on another one of the Captain's chairs.

"Doctor, might I ask as to where we are headed?" Amy asked the Time Lord.

"Foreman's Junkyard, 76 Totter's Lane, London, England, Earth, 1963", the Doctor replied enthusiastically as he flipped a switch with a grin on his face.

"That is very precise", Rory commented as he sat up straight.

"Of course it is", the Doctor replied as he continued to flick switches in his sort of dance, "It has to be otherwise nothing will ever make sense again. Everything I have ever known in the TARDIS will mean nothing, you hear me, nothing if we don't get there".

"So this is very important", Rory concluded.

"Important is an understatement", the Doctor laughed, "We are going back to before the beginning. When I was old and grey, and hated you primitive apes; when the TARDIS was fresh and new, or rather fresher and newer than it is today; when the chameleon circuit still functioned properly. I think Rory, the word or rather words to describe this would be dangerous, stupid, and absolutely brilliant".

"And why are we going here now?" Amy asked as she and Rory hopped off the seat, anticipating the impending arrival.

"Because Sarah Jane has asked me to", the Doctor smiled as he flicked the last switch, and they went into materialisation.

The blue box faded in and then back out of existence, and then finally back in again, in the Foreman's Junkyard on Totter's Lane. It was a mess of a place, which now contained two police telephone boxes. The cloister bell began to sound as the Doctor swooped over to Sarah's urn and picked it up in his hands. "Uh Doctor. Cloister bell?" Rory tried to point out to the Time Lord.

"Yes, I know", he replied as he leapt over to the TARDIS doors, "Now you two need to stay in here. Do **not** leave".

The look on his face told the Ponds he was deadly serious; more serious than he had ever been before. And it scared them. Amy nodded and took Rory's hand. Whatever he was up to, he wanted to do alone. And it involved Sarah Jane, so they knew that this was important to him. As the cloister bell continued to sound, the Doctor left the TARDIS, and stepped out into 1963. Again.

"Right then", the Doctor took in a deep breath as he gazed at the impossible before him, "Let's get this over and down with shall we, Sarah?"

The Doctor gulped as he strode across the dark junkyard to the police box opposite him. It was a darker blue than his, and a layer of dust had gathered on its roof from being there so long. A light escaped from the windows, and he could already feel the telepathic curiosity of the box on the fringes of his mind.

With one hand, he slowly pushed the door open and was hit by cool air as he did so. Inside, the room was light and clean. It was simpler than what he had gotten used to in the previous years, but it was still quintessentially the TARDIS. His TARDIS. Minus however the attitude and love that was so present in the TARDIS he had just left. This only confirmed his suspicions from before today, and after reading Sarah's letter to him, about the TARDIS. She was giving him the best gift of all; everlasting companionship, even though it has taken his this long to realise it.

With one quick check that the console room was empty done, the Doctor rushed forward to the main console and dived into the ships inner workings. He received several shocks from the machine as he reached in to the circuitry, trying to find the area he wanted. And there is was now, he could see it. All he had to do was reach around the chameleon circuit, careful not to touch it, and then he was there.

"Grandfather?" the Doctor jumped at the sudden interruption, whacking his hand right into the chameleon circuit, sending sparks flying everywhere.

"Oh, I hope you are happy Sarah", the Doctor grumbled as he tried to hide by flattening himself to the floor.

"Grandfather, are you there?" the same voice said, "The ship is reading that there is possibly a bug in the console".

_Oh great_, the Doctor thought, _just what I need now_.

"There's no point in trying to hide grandfather", the voice now laughed, "I can see your feet poking out around the side".

The Doctor winced to himself. He had just made things a whole lot worse. Why did he listen to Sarah Jane? No, actually, why did he ever let her have this much influence on him? She was going to be the death of him. He was sure. That was if he ever did get out of the situation he was in now. "Grandfather, please talk to me. I didn't mean to..." but the voice trailed off and the Doctor winced further, "Since when do you wear boots like those? And why are there human ashes in an urn in the ship?"

The Doctor sighed to himself as he began to pull himself out from underneath the console. "Because Susan", the Doctor sighed as he wriggled his way back out, "There is a very good explanation, and I will explain later".

"You're not grandfather", Susan took a quick step back as she looked this intruder over, "But, no wait, you are".

"Hello Susan", the Doctor smiled as he stood to his full height, "It is good to see you again".

"You've regenerated", she pointed out as she took a small step towards him, "How?"

"I think you fully well know how Susan", the Doctor frowned at her.

"I do yes, but when?" she took an even bigger step towards him now.

"Now that would be telling you the future", the Doctor told her, "I am on my eleventh body, and here on a very important mission. Now, would you like to help me or not?"

"I would yes", she smiled at him as he dove back into the TARDIS circuitry, and she sat down crossed legged next to him.

The Doctor wriggled his way back into the position he was in before, with the added fact the chameleon circuit was now broken beyond repair. Great, he was the reason behind his misfortune over all these years. All the explanations to companions, all the trouble the TARDIS had caused looking like this, it was essentially his fault, and nobody else's. "Grandfather", Susan started, "Who is Sarah Jane Smith?"

"Susan, you be very careful with that urn", the Doctor yelled from within as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, "She was, is, will be a very special person to me".

"And why have you crossed your own timeline, which is highly dangerous and foolish, with her ashes?" Susan continued.

"So certain events can play out in my past, well future to you at the moment", the Doctor explained, as he flipped over onto his back, "Now, I want you to pass the urn very carefully towards me, okay? You will have to reach in here, alright?"

"Yes Grandfather", Susan responded as she already began to carry out his orders.

The Doctor took the urn from his granddaughter slowly and carefully. Smiling, he pulled it to where he wanted before flipping back onto his stomach as he had originally been. Tucking Sarah's ashes under his arm he wriggled further into the TARDIS, so all Susan could now see were her grandfather's feet poking out. The console itself was bigger on the inside too.

Seeing that the chameleon circuit was now well and truly cooked, the Doctor made no attempt to be cautious around it and so just pushed it aside as he opened up the panel before him. Inside, all he could see was a pulsing blue orb of light. It looked almost liquid as it hung mid air in again a bigger on the inside cabinet. The Doctor sighed to himself. The Time Lords were obsessed with this technology when they built the Type 40s. "Okay Sarah Jane. This is it", the Doctor smiled as he took the urn from under his arm, "Your greatest adventure. Now make me proud".

With a tear in his eye, the Doctor opened the urn, and let the ashes fall into the space. Sarah's essence was pulled to the orb in the centre under its own generated pull of gravity. As she met the heart of the TARDIS, a bright light escaped the blue orb and the Doctor covered his eyes. Satisfied that all was well, he pulled himself out, shutting the panel with a smile on his face. Now, he couldn't wait to get back to his TARDIS and give her a good old hug, or equivalent.

Once out, the Doctor noticed Susan's confusion as to what was going on around her. The TARDIS seemed more alive, the lighting had changed, and the Doctor knew that there was no doubt that the telepathic connection was now well apparent to Susan. "Grandfather, what did you do?" she asked him as she checked the controls, "It is as if I can hear the TARDIS speaking to me".

"That's because she is", the Doctor groaned as he pushed himself off of the ground.

"How is that possible? She has only ever been able to give us slight telepathic updates on her systems and our present location", Susan took a hand to her forehead and frowned, the feeling was obviously unpleasant for her, "It's like she is trying to communicate with me. So many voices in my head".

"I know it will be strange for the first few minutes. Well, until I leave anyway, it should settle down after that and you will gradually notice an attitude adjustment, but I should see it as nothing more than that. Your me now, not me here right now", the Doctor explained to Susan as he checked the controls, "The TARDIS is just getting used to having Sarah Jane part of her being".

"That is impossible. A TARDIS is one being, living and thinking by itself", Susan argued as she helped the Doctor check primary functions.

"A TARDIS thinks and lives the way the Time Lords taught it", the Doctor replied as he took out his sonic and gave an instrument a good blast, "We, well, you need a TARDIS that is a bit gutsier than the one I stole to keep up with me and keep me on track".

"So you took the ashes and the residual life force left upon them, and combined them with the heart of the TARDIS to change her personality?" Susan tried to clarify with her grandfather.

"If that helps", he smiled at her, "Right then TARDIS, if there is any part of you that remembers the life of Sarah Jane, make yourself known".

The Doctor looked around the console room as he waited for some sort of response. Susan removed the hand from her head as she followed his gaze. The ship was silent for a moment, and you could hear a pin drop as the two Galifreyans waited. The lights flashed off, leaving the two in complete darkness before turning themselves back on systematically outwards from the central console. The Doctor continued to wait, and began to panic as lights were not really enough. Quickly, he zapped the console with the sonic once again, but the console seemed to complain as it raised the time rotor upwards and an ear piercing beep echoed throughout the quiet machine. "Grandfather", Susan started, "There is a message on the view-screen".

The Doctor twirled around to look at the area his granddaughter was indicating. He couldn't help but smile at what read on the screen. _Leave me alone you twit!_, the first line read before it scrolled down, _Give me a chance, getting used to a whole new existence here_. The Doctor laughed and ran hand over the console before ending in a pat on the time rotor. "Right then you sexy thing", the Doctor laughed as he danced around the console, "Let's make you acceptable for our first introduction, hmm?"

"Grandfather, does this Sarah Jane Smith travel with you in the future?" Susan wondered as the Doctor flicked certain switches, "Because if she does, doesn't it make the TARDIS a paradox? Her past self will meet her future self. It is even illegal for Time Lords to do such a thing".

"Susan, you'll soon discover that I don't break the laws of time, just bend them a little", he smiled as they noticed the lights beginning to change back to their pure white light, even if it felt a little warmer and welcoming.

"And is this bending them?" she raised an eyebrow at him as she suddenly noticed it becoming quieter in her head, "Where has the TARDIS gone?"

"I've just toned down the telepathy levels, so that as I become more accustomed to humans, the telepathy will increase ever so slightly", the Doctor told his granddaughter, "Just be aware, Sarah Jane was very loving and will treat you like her own child. And Susan, this is our secret".

"So I don't tell you anything", she confirmed with him.

"Exactly", the Doctor tapped her on the nose, "You repeat nothing of it".

"Okay", she smiled back at him before glancing over at the clock behind him, "You better get going. You will be back any minute now".

"Oh yes", the Doctor jumped around and looked at the clock himself, checking also his wrist watch to make sure it was correct.

The Doctor sighed as he looked back at his granddaughter. He was never going to see her again after this, but she didn't know that. For all she knew, they were both still travelling in time and space together, on the run from the Time Lords. This was another gift to him from Sarah Jane. He got to see his family one last time. The Doctor pulled his granddaughter in for a hug, which he could tell she found odd. Susan finally sub-came to the interaction and hugged him back, even though she knew the Doctor was hugging her as if he would never see her again. "Thank you Susan", the Doctor said as they finished hugging, "And thank you Sarah Jane. Again".

"Bye Grandfather", Susan smiled at him as the Doctor made his way out.

"Bye Susan", the Doctor smiled at her from the doorway, "Do me proud, yeah?"

"I will", she smiled at him before her grandfather disappeared.

Susan smiled as she stroked the walls of the TARDIS. Their little secret. Perhaps if she practiced, she could talk to this Sarah Jane and help her settle in better. Well, she didn't have any more homework, and this Sarah Jane was, or rather used to be a human. And Susan so wanted to learn more about them, and what better way than to hear it from the horse's mouth. She now had the opportunity to discuss everything with a human without letting it slip she wasn't human. It was a lovely gift.

* * *

><p>Back in the present day TARDIS...<p>

"How long do you think he will be?" Rory wondered aloud whilst he and Amy watched the view-screen for any activity outside.

"Could be back any second", Amy sighed in response; "You know what he is like".

The two humans gazed around the TARDIS. Her lighting had changed; all lights on full illuminating the TARDIS in a white light. It was if the ship was on pins, eager for the Doctor to return. Amy smoothed the part of the console which was closest to her. The ship responded with a hum, and a slight movement of the time rotor, but nothing else. The ship was the one who turned the view-screen on, not Rory or Amy. "Well, the TARDIS doesn't like being here, that's for sure", Rory pointed out.

"I've never seen her like this", Amy added, "I can feel her niggling in the back of my mind too. It is like she is mentally pacing in and back out".

"I thought it was just me", Rory sat up straight; "Maybe she is trying to reassure us, and herself. Reminds me of the mums waiting for their kids to come out of theatre, back in the hospital. They wear a brave face on the outside for the siblings, but on the inside absolutely terrified".

"She has always seemed very motherly", Amy agreed with him.

Suddenly the lights changed and they began pulsing in various places. Amy and Rory looked to the view-screen, and there was the Doctor, walking back with a large smile upon his face; minus however Sarah Jane's ashes. Amy jumped up and ran down to the door, but the TARDIS beat her to opening the doors. The Doctor stood outside slightly confused by the doors opening by themselves, but then smiled as he crossed the threshold into the TARDIS.

As he stepped in through the door, the TARDIS seemed to become electrified with his presence and the lighting changed once again. The lights pulsed in blues and purples around the room, and the time rotor moved slightly. Various other components on the console also came to life, and Rory jumped as a lever seemed to pull itself. "Someone is happy to see you", Rory pointed out as the Doctor walked past Amy not saying a word, just patting her on the shoulder.

"And I am happy in return", the Doctor continued to smile as he gave the console a quick rub, and then sat back onto the Captain's chair.

"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Amy poked him in the shoulder as she stood next to him, "Or are we going to have to guess?"

"All I'm saying, is that you will know by tomorrow morning when you wake up", the Doctor replied as he sat back, deep in happy thoughts.

"How?" Rory asked him.

"Oh, you'll see", the Doctor answered as he closed his eyes and let his head flop backwards, "Now, I suggest we all go to bed, it has been a long day".

And with that, Amy and Rory watched the Doctor disappear into the depths of the TARDIS, skipping as he went. Shrugging to each other, the Ponds then walked hand in hand to their room. That night, the couple dreamed the life and adventures of the TARDIS, condensed version. They both smiled as they slept as it was revealed piece by piece to them. Of how Sarah Jane became part of the TARDIS, how the Doctor had mucked things up, and what was yet to come for the Sarah Jane they had seen leave the attic hours ago.

_That's the life we lead. Sometimes it brings you such joy, and sometimes it brings you the worst things in the world_- Sarah Jane Smith/Elisabeth Sladen, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> At last; my tribute to Lis Sladen. I'm not one of those people who would die to meet an actor or actress, but I would have loved to have met Lis. I was lost for words when she passed away, and still am when I come to talk about her. I'm struggling to come up with the right words here now, even though I have just written probably one of the longest chapters of my life.

This is going to be a multi chapter fic, and will consist of at least fifteen chapters. I will be writing them in-between my other projects, and they will all be all over the place. But I do promise you all this, that the next chapter will clarify some things up. All I will add to that is 2061.

I have to say this is a rather special fic for me. Not only is it a tribute to Lis, but also to my Nanna, who was diagnosed with cancer just before Christmas. I dedicate this to her, both of them actually, because I know there are so many things my Nanna will want to make sure each and every one of us gets. And I know that when she does inevitably pass away, I would do anything to see her again.


End file.
